


Flying the Coop

by cjmarlowe



Category: Threesome (UK TV)
Genre: Canon Gay Character, Gen, Leaving Home, Multi, Yuletide 2012, Yuletide Treat, parenting, weirdly ever after
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-25
Updated: 2012-12-25
Packaged: 2017-11-22 08:19:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/607762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cjmarlowe/pseuds/cjmarlowe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Leaving the flat to go to uni shouldn't have been quite this traumatic. Not for <em>Lily</em>, who'd been packed for days and was more than ready to start spreading her wings, but for everyone else.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Flying the Coop

**Author's Note:**

  * For [JenNova](https://archiveofourown.org/users/JenNova/gifts).



Leaving the flat to go to uni shouldn't have been quite this traumatic. Not for _Lily_ , who'd been packed for days and was more than ready to start spreading her wings, but for everyone else. She would've thought her parents would welcome the chance to get their privacy back, for all kinds of reasons that she knew _absolutely nothing about, thank you very much, she saw nothing, she heard nothing, and she most definitely did not accidentally open that box marked Christmas decorations to find things that should never be hung on any tree, ever_.

But instead Daddy was rummaging through her suitcase to make sure none of her skirts were too short (she preferred trousers, thanks) and Dad was making a checklist of all of her academic supplies to make sure she didn't leave anything behind (already done; she definitely got her knack for organisation from him), and Mum was flying around the kitchen making a care package of things that Lily had no idea what she would do with when she arrived at uni: chopped almonds and half a bag of shredded coconut and that box of lime jelly that had been sitting at the back of the shelf since last summer at least.

"We've got to go soon," she said, refolding her clothing and putting it back in her suitcase as fast as her daddy was pulling it out. "You'll want to be home before dark."

"We could stay over, if it's too late," said her mum, pausing in her frantic filling of the second box. "Mitch, get the pillows, Richie, get the blankets, I'll get the marshmallows."

"No," said Lily, immediately but firmly. These things had a tendency of spiralling out of control, and if she didn't take it in hand now she was going to end up having a sleepover in halls her first night away from home and something was inevitably going to get set on fire. "Mum, I'm not going to be doing any baking, you can put the flour tin away."

Her mum looked at it, as if weighing her options, then reluctantly pulled it out of the box and put it back onto the shelf.

"You might."

"I'm not going to have an oven," said Lily. "I'm going to live on chips and takeaway and vodka."

"That's about how I remember it," said her dad.

"Vodka!" said her mum. "I know we've got some of that."

Dad was the one to gently take the vodka back out of the care package. "She can get her own liquor, just like we did," he said, and kissed the top of Mum's head and Daddy finally finished his panicked look through Lily's luggage, as if he hadn't helped her pack it the first time around anyway.

"We've got to go," she said again. "If I've forgotten anything, I can always come home on the weekend."

"Every weekend," said her daddy. "Your room will always be there for you. I won't let your dad turn it into a study."

"Why would I turn it into a study?"

"And we promise not to find a new child to replace you for at least a couple of months," said her mum.

"Ignore her," said her daddy. "Nobody's ever going to take your place. We're going to turn your bedroom into a shrine—"

"I was thinking maybe a nice foreign exchange student," said her mum. "You know, just to make it a little less empty when you're gone."

"Mum," said Lily, and wrapped her arms around her and ignored the fact that she was slipping something else into the box that looked suspiciously like a bottle of mustard. "You couldn't make this place feel empty if you _tried_. And I'm not _gone_. I'll be back over the summer."

Her mother seemed mollified, but her daddy was having none of it.

"What are we supposed to do now that you've flown the coop?"

"Left the nest," sad her dad. "It's called leaving the nest. She's not escaping from prison."

"You don't think of this place as a prison, do you, sweetheart?" said her mum. "Of course you don't. If you did, we would've heard all about it when you were fourteen."

"And fifteen."

"And sixteen."

"You're all horrible and I'm never coming home to visit," she said, but she had the fondest smile on her face as she said it. Even if her daddy still looked momentarily worried she meant it.

"Yes, exactly like that," said her Mum. "Oh, I've got a packet of biscuits that I've been saving to send with you!"

"You were saving those?" said her daddy, with a guilty puppy dog look. She'd be disappointed, because she could actually have used them, except she'd been the one to help him polish them off while they were watching the football a couple of nights ago.

"I think you're already sending plenty with me," said Lily. "You probably shouldn't send the kettle, though. You might need that. And the peppermill."

Her dad took the peppermill out, then took her mum's hand and brushed his thumb over her knuckles. Daddy was quick to put his arms around the both of them, even if Lily saw him sneaking the peppermill back in behind their backsand not the actually-useful bottle of vodka.

Honestly, it was going to be much harder to explain why her father was hiding in her closet just to make sure she was getting on all right than it was to explain that yes, she had two dads and a mum and sometimes one of her dads slept with other men and that was just fine with everyone. It was downright _normal_ compared to the rest.

And yes, maybe she had the only birthday party with dancing lampshades as entertainment and maybe her first science fair entry nearly got her expelled (the fire was totally not her fault, even if the acid was) and maybe she was the only one in her year who had a cheering squad at maths competitions, but Lily wouldn't have it any other way. 

"We need to go," she said, finally looking to her dad to take her side. When it came to promptness, he was the only one who would.

He smiled at her and dangled the keys from his fingertip and soon enough they were all packing suitcases and boxes and themselves into the car, ready for her next big adventure.


End file.
